downacountryroadblog

HOPE!

The war became personal this week

          What was once head knowledge touched my heart

                   Where is she? Is she safe?

          I have never met this lady but I feel as though I know her.

          She has become a part of the fabric of my life.

          She is a “kindred spirit” as Anne of Green Gables would say.

She has a gentle spirit – a homebody – a cook – a baker – a gardener – a knitter – a crocheter – a lover of nature.

She lives in Israel, in the midst of war, she quietly goes about her life trying for a semblance of “normal” and sharing her life on a vlog called Mdays.

That is where I found her. And I have learned much about grace under pressure watching as she cooks meals for her family, cleans her home, tends the plants on her balcony, creates new knitting and crochet patterns for her Etsy and Ravelry sites, all the while commenting in her quiet voice on the events complicating her life.

Until Saturday a week ago, when her vlog showed the damage done to their home when a rocket hit their building. They were safe in the basement shelter but they heard and felt the impact and knew it was close. Their neighbor’s apartment took the direct hit but their apartment was damaged. The post ended without them knowing if they were going to be able to remain in the apartment or have to leave.

Everyday I checked to see if there was another post and there was nothing – until this morning.

This morning she posted an update. They are safe and waiting for repairs to their building. For now they remain in the apartment but when the repairs begin they will have to leave.

I am thankful that God has kept this family safe.

I am also very aware of the cost of war.

Watching her cope with the constant sirens, the frequent trips down seven flights of steps to the shelter, interrupted sleep, interrupted meals, interrupted lives.

On this fourth Sunday in Lent I believe that God is trying to get our attention.

Some will ignore God’s prompting because they don’t believe in God.

Some will ignore because they are biblically illiterate.

We ignore God’s prompting at our own peril.

We feel so superior, so safe with great oceans on the east and on the west.

But we are vulnerable because Israel’s enemies consider any who do not bow to them their enemies also. As recent events have shown we are no longer immune to attack.

In Michigan, a man drives a truck loaded with explosives into a synagogue where 140 children were trying to learn.

In Pennsylvania, two young men built homemade bombs and drove to New York City in an attempt to kill protestors outside the mayor’s home.

In Virginia, the Old Dominion University Campus was the site of another attack.

In his book “Epicenter” Joel Rosenberg writes:

While it is fashionable in our times to analyze world events merely by looking through the lenses of politics and economics, it is also a serious mistake, for it prevents one from being able to see in three dimensions. To truly understand the significance of global events and trends, one must analyze them through a third lens as well: the lens of Scripture. Only then can the full picture become clearer.

The Bible is not shy about describing itself as a supernatural book, written by an all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful God who chooses to give His people advance warning of future events He deems of utmost importance. To the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah, God said, “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3).

He goes on to say:

Yet how many today, living in the twenty-first century, are truly familiar with the many ancient biblical prophecies concerning the second coming of the Messiah and are able – much less willing – to connect the dots and see what is coming?

And He said to the people,

When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say,

There cometh a shower; and so it is.

And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say,

There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.

Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth;

but how is it that ye do not discern this time?

Luke 12:54-56 KJV

Then He turned to the crowd:

“When you see clouds coming in from the west, you say,

‘Storm’s coming’ – and you’re right.

And when the wind comes out of the south, you say,

‘This’ll be a hot one’ – and you’re right.

Frauds!

You know how to tell a change in the weather,

so don’t tell Me you can’t tell a change in the season,

the God-season we’re in right now.

The Message

What is God trying to teach us?

His Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

Get into the WORD!

We do not need to be fearful, just be aware.

God is working out His plan as He has been since the beginning of time.

Thus saith the Lord unto you,

Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude;

For the battle is not yours, but God’s.

II Chronicles 20:15

This is not the subject that I intended for this week.

Several events redirected my focus.

The first was the conflict in Iran.

The second was a devotional reading.

And the third was my pastor’s sermon this morning.

#1

The conflict in Iran reminded me that our time on earth is not certain. We don’t know what tomorrow may bring.

As the psalmist wrote: So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12

#2

The devotional reading spoke of Abraham called to leave his home and extended family and to go where God would show him, and of the Israelites called to leave Egypt and go the Promised Land. Both situations called for relocation. The writer said it plainly: “If you want to get to the place where you aren’t, you must first leave the place where you are.”

#3

My pastor spoke of our need for revival. He said we can’t have revival without transformation. Many of us pray for revival but want someone else to make the change. It doesn’t work that way. Often when I have prayed, I understand when the answer comes, that God begins to answer by making a change in me.

And so the message for this Second Sunday in Lent is this:

What are you doing to bring about a revival of faith in the world today?

If you read God’s Word you know His plan. He spells it out in the writings of the Old Testament prophets. John’s visions in the New Testament Book of Revelation makes it clear where this word is headed. Satan knows is “in it to win it” – he will not give up the fight against God and His Church. If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ you are in the battle.

My devotional reading ended with these questions:

Where do you need to go?

What promised land has God called you to enter?

What must you first leave?

We are not promised tomorrow.

What are you doing with the today that God has given you?

REPENT

In those days came John the Baptist,

preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

And saying,

Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Matthew:3:1-2

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On this first Sunday in the season of Lent we are reminded:

There is no forgiveness without repentance.

We were created for relationship.

Adam and Eve walked in the garden with God.

They talked with their Creator.

Until that relationship was broken by sin.

And even then, God made a way for the sin debt to be satisfied.

Jesus came to die for our sin.

He said on the cross,

“It is finished.”

When we repent and accept God’s gift of salvation that relationship is restored.

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The entrance into the Kingdom

is through the panging pains of repentance

crashing into a man’s respectable goodness;

then the Holy Ghost,

Who produces these agonies,

begins the formation of  the Son of God in the life.

The new life will manifest itself

in conscience repentance and unconscious holiness,

never the other way about.

The bedrock of Christianity is repentance.

Strictly speaking,

a man cannot repent when he chooses;

repentance is a gift of God.

The old Puritans used to pray for “the gift of tears.”

If ever you cease to know the virtue of repentance, you are in darkness.

Examine yourself and see if you have forgotten how to be sorry.

Oswald Chambers

My Utmost For His Highest

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There is much that is broken in the world today.

Families, communities, nations,

everywhere you look you find division,

a lack of trust,

broken relationships,

broken laws,

broken systems.

It does not have to be this way.

God has made a way.

Restoration is possible.

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If My people,

which are called by My name,

shall humble themselves,

and pray,

 and seek My face,

and turn from their wicked ways;

then will I hear from heaven,

and will forgive their sin,

and will heal their land.

II Chronicles 7:14

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Therefore being justified by faith,

we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand,

and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:

knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

and patience, experience;

and experience, hope

:and hope maketh not ashamed;

because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts

by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

For when we were yet without strength,

in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die:

yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

But God commendeth His love toward us,

in that,

while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for us.

Romans 5: 1-8

Arise, shine; for thy Light has come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.

For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people:

but the LORD shall shine upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.

And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Isaiah 60: 1-3 KJV

We light this candle as a symbol of Christ our HOPE.

May the light sent from God shine in the darkness to show us the way of salvation.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel!

CHRIST OUR HOPE

Oh, how we need hope in our world today.

Lord, there are so many who have lost all hope; they are struggling physically, emotionally, financially, and most important – spiritually. Oh, how desperately they need to hear this message. You are our Hope!

They need to know the Gospel message: how you entered this world as a helpless infant – God wrapped in human flesh – to bring salvation.

Jesus died for us. He who was without sin, died on the Cross for our sin. “It is finished.” Those were His words, “Finshed,” completed, the sin debt was satisfied that day. All that remains for us is to accept or reject God’s gift of salvation. How easy God made this for His people but how difficult we make it. Yes, salvation comes at great cost but it was God who paid the price, not His people.

Oswald Chambers writes:

We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God; we must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest blessing spiritually is the knowledge that we are destitute; until we get there God is powerless. He can do nothing for us if we think we are sufficient of ourselves, we have to enter into His Kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are rich, possessed of anything in the way of pride or independence, God cannot do anything for us. it is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the essential nature of God is made effectual in us by the Holy Spirit, He imparts to us the quickening life of Jesus, which puts “the beyond” within, and immediately “the beyond” has come within, it rises up to “the above”, and we are lifted into the domain where Jesus lives. (John 3:5)

God has given you a gift. Have you “opened” His gift or have you rejected His offer? God is patient. He desires for all of His children to come to Him but He will not force anyone. And He will not wait forever.

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.

In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself;

that where I am, there ye may be also.

John 14:1-3 KJV

And He said unto them,

It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:

and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,

and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up;

and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as He went up,

behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

which also said,

Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven,

shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.

Acts 1: 7-11 KJV

On this first Sunday of Advent my wreath sits on my dining room table.

The first candle is lit.

The candle burns

– a tiny flame –

but the darkness cannot overcome it.